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April 8, 2012, 5:48 pm UTC

What is common between celebrities and social media? A lot of things are said and heard about them these days. Social media today has changed the way people communicate with each other. The world is surrounded by ‘likes’, ‘tweets’ and ‘pins’.

Celebrity blogs have become a passé in today’s rage of social media. Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are being used by celebrities to break news or post an update about something. Besides increasing their followers and fans, celebrities are using social media as a platform to promote their upcoming movies, songs, tours and much more.

Recently, Pop singer Kat Perry asked her Twitter followers to give her track suggestions and advice on what clothes to wear for her stage performances. Katy will be using these inputs for her upcoming film which is based on her life. From Lady Gaga (45,633,442 Facebook fans and 16,862,231 Twitter followers) to teen sensation Justin Bieber (41,730,633 Facebook fans and 19,031,326 Twitter followers) celebrities want to connect with fans through these mediums.

Even Madona who is not on Twitter joined it just for one day to have an interactive session with her fans on her upcoming 12th studio album, 'MDNA', resulted into 8 million likes on her Facebook page, as her fans couldn't ask a query until they liked her fan page!

Meanwhile, back in Bollywood, our desi heros and heroines are also marching ahead with their presence on Facebook and Twitter. From posting personal pictures to chatting with their film colleagues, Bollywood celebrities these days are increasingly gung-ho about Social Networking. From Amitabh Bachchan to Kamaal R Khan, almost every Bollywood star is increasingly using social media to ‘connect’ with their fans across the globe. Each of these Bollywood stars tends to gain a lot of personal attention, through the power that lies within social media platform. Celebrities’ social presence on these social platforms has become crucial these days.

Due to inherent features such as no geographical constraints and easy connectivity, Social Media has created unique opportunities for Bollywood to sell itself, moving away from traditional tools of promotions. When Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D’souza posted their photo during the marriage ceremony on their official Facebook page, it generated more than 5000 likes and hundreds of comments.

Similarly, Shah Rukh Khan, who was involved in robust promotion in one of the costliest movie Ra.One, captivated the masses on Facebook, Twitter, Google+. A new marketing initiative for Ra.One, made possible by Google+, was ahangoutfor fans with Shah Rukh Khan. Ra.One’s official page has close to 5 lakh likes. From posting latest updates (in the form of trivia and pictures) to running polls and contests, the Ra.One official page was stylized truly SRK style. But, the biggest marketing ploy created by SRK was the launch of cross-platformsocial game ‘Ra.One Genesis’. The game was launched across multiple media platforms such as Facebook , Twitter, iPads and iPhones, Nokia’s Ovi store, Android and DTH, in collaboration with India Games, the company that created this Internet game.

But today celebrities are going beyond Facebook and Twitter. The new kid on the block Pinterest which boasts 17.8 million users have few important personalities that are active. For starters, US President, Barack Obama, Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, actresses like Demi Moore and Jessica Alba.

Thus, apart from promoting their films via channels like Facebook and Twitter, these Bollywood stars also create space for enhancing their individual brands and other stuff that interests them on Pinterest.